Every year on anzac day i make my pilgramage to sydney to pay respects to my grandfather and those he served with. A few years ago i was invited to join the 2/2nd MG ascn and attend their annual anzac day lunch. This year with no annual leave available to me as all booked for my US trip in september it meant running the work flight gauntlet i so much hate and meant also an early start (im not a morning person). I managed to secure a J class upgrade on the trip south on a 73H which is one i havent been in the pointy end of.

Friday 24th April.

Managed to escape work at 1520 after a 7am start, was all ready feeling the pain of the early morning wake up as was now mega tired but it was only just beginning. Scammed an almost expired airtrain pass for free through work and made my way to the station for the 20 min rude to the airport.

Pulled up at the domestic airport realising why i stopped using the suit bag i was taking with me as it was really heavy walked down to the J class check in and used the quickcheck machine. Quick through the routine and it spat out my boarding pass.. On paper! Damn wanted one of the old card type. Move forward drop my bag and onto security. See a wet tray and think this is a convienient way to get my bp replaced so grab it and stick ,y bp right on top of the water…. Score! Dump the usual in the tray walk through,… Beep.. Dammit! Guard tells me to lose the belt and watch.. Damn get to embarass myself… Woo. Go through again no beep this time collect my mountain of stuff and redress myself and off to the lounge.

Get my first experience of the dragons when I get to the main entrance and ask where to get my bp reprinted. The dragon sees my lolely bronze card and says i shouldn’t be in here till the second dragon actually looks at my pass and points me in the right direction. Into the J lounge proper and i get my bp reprinted on real card stock! Then venture inside and see that the place is packed not many seats left so i find the first free seat and dump my stuff. While I enjoy the lounge and have a couple of beers, use the net and read my book a little. Glance up to see the board announcing my flight is delayed… O yay as I wait the lounge fills more and the hot food vultures arrive. Ponder to myself why i didn’t bring the laptop on this trip.

QF549 – BNE > SYD
Scheduled 1815>1950
Boeing 737-800
VH-VXS – “City of St Helens”

Finally get tired of the lounge and head to the gate about 10 mins before boarding,. Apparently. The gate is packed as the other flight just arrived. Looks like it will be a while. Boarding wasn’t really announced when they opened the doors everyone rushed the gate. Had a chuckle at the people in line behind me who were joking about who was closest to business. As I walked down was greeted by the lovely staff and showed to my seat. Although this was an older 73H with old colours it did have the new light grey interior. There was not as much room as i thought there would be but still plenty of space.

Settled in and the boarding stream never seemed to stop till Mr 1F decided to cram his oversize carry on into the overhead bins. It was funny yet annoying as he constantly held up the boarding process till he finally surrendered his bag to be gate checked. As more people streamed on board i got a few dirty looks by what i assume were WP members…. O well. With everyone seated it seemed there are three QF FA’s dead heading down to Sydney and i thought i would of been getting dirty looks. They did help out with the pre flight service taking peoples coats etc

We finally pushback at 1840, 25 mins late. We go through the usual safety drills but i notice the Safety Video is different to the last time i flew. A quick taxi to Runway 01 and as EK435 lands, we turn onto active and the captain doesn’t even look at slowing as he guns it. A good easy takeoff roll and a right turn headed for Sydney. Not to long after take off seat belt sign comes off and we are told of a few lumpy bits but nothing to bad.

Captain comes on tells us we should make good time but after his quick speech get a taste of what ch9 would be like as he accidently hits the pa to make an atc call. If only we had that here, id probably never turn it off. I somehow don’t think that QF uses the FEBO rules as i was served last on an odd flight. So i waited my turn and it was either chicken or a salad, i took the chicken but should of had the salad. One good thing i did enjoy was the can of James Squires Golden Ale served to me. Ive moved away from wine these days and drinking more beer. Knowing i can get golden ale on a flight is a god send.

Watched the news while eating and soon enough we are at TOD, heafing into YSSY. a long decent as we circuit towards 34R. As i finish my 2nd beer we are told to stow tray tables and raise our seats as we come in for finals. An easy touch down and then a long long taxi all the way to T3. We stop near the jetbase waiting for a 767 to clear our taxi path. as we head to the gate we pass EBH and OQC we pull into gate 2 and almost get knocked over as the airbridge is slid into place.
As we deplane i enjoy the benefits of being in the pointy end as I am quickly out of the plane and down the jetway, i make a quick pit stop and as i get to the baggage area our bags spit out and then quickly heading to the train! Hit the train about 4 mins before a train is due to arrive and within 15 mins I am at Wynard Station with a quick walk up to my hotel.

I managed to get 2 free nights out of work at the Amora Jamison Hotel and as I arrived here was no staff about, which is really unusual. But check in was a breeze and I set my wake up call for 3:45am and head up to the same room I had last year!

Saturday April 25th – Anzac Day

So after awaking to my phone ringing and the words “wake up call” kinda seemed to me that things were not quite right with the hotel. Seemed things had gone down in the last year… but maybe it was just the staff on shift that day. Got changed and met Mum and Dad (who were joining me in Sydney) for the Dawn service at Martin Place. Kinda regretted not bringing a decent jacket (didn’t have the room) as it was pretty damn cold but for once… no rain. Mum stayed a lot longer than i expected (10 mins) as Anzac day is never easy for her as it always reminds her of my Grandad. So with just me & Dad at the ceremony it went well. Same as last year pretty much but this time the Air Force had the band and the catafalque party where as last year it was the Navy.

I made my way back to my hotel and lounged around reading and watching TV for a while till around 7ish when I headed down for Breakfast. First time I have had breakfast at the Jamison as it was included in my freebie. Pretty standard hotel buffet although the automatic pancake machine was different. After that it was time to start getting ready. I was meeting mum & dad again at 9am for the march. I passed on the suit jacket as it was getting a touch warm and decided to go with the Polar Fleece Vest I had instead.

Walked round to the Menzies where Mum & Dad were staying and they gave me a hand with my Grandad’s medals. Its a bit difficult to do alone as they never end up straight, and they are a touch heavy. We walked up to O’Connell St and waited as this was the meeting point for the group. Slowly but surely people started arriving (kept an eye out for the association tie) and it all seemed to go well.

The March was held up for quite a while but while we waited just kept chatting to people as we went along. Once we finally got moving I tried to keep in line and in sync with everyone else but it seemed not everyone cared to much! The old guys had a Land Rover to go along in and they seemed to love it! We walked past Dick Smith and one of the other people was telling me he is in the same spot, every year, with the same sign. I didn’t manage to get a photo of him though, it turned out to Blurry!.

Anyway i best finish this off as my flight boards in 15 mins! back home I come!